Athlete back on team after weapons charge

Posted: Wednesday, November 21, 2007

University of Georgia basketball player William Patrick "Billy" Humphrey III was allowed to rejoin the team Tuesday after he agreed earlier in the day to accept punishment and dispose of a weapons charge against him.

The UGA Athletic Association reinstated the 20-year-old junior after he took a pre-trial diversion deal, one week after campus police charged Humphrey with felony possession of a weapon on school grounds.

The agreement with prosecutors requires Humphrey to do 80 hours of community service and stay out of trouble for 18 months.

In exchange, the court will dismiss the criminal charge if Humphrey meets the requirements, according to defense attorney Kim T. Stephens.

Police searched Humphrey's East Campus Village dorm room the morning of Nov. 13, after a janitor found marijuana in a trash bag that apparently came from the room Humphrey shared with Mike Mercer, who was dismissed from the team this week.

Police didn't find drugs in the room, but they did find a folding knife in a jacket hanging in the closet.

Head basketball coach Dennis Felton said the knife was a souvenir Humphrey picked up during a trip abroad.

Humphrey's lawyer said he couldn't get prosecutors to dismiss the charge, because the state law is unclear about weapons on school property.

"The statute allows a weapon in a residence within school safety zone, but the question is, if the residence is on school property, are you then allowed to have it or not?" Stephens said. "That's why we contended the statute is too vague to meet constitutional standards."

Humphrey, a 6-foot, 2-inch junior from Dacula, said the arrest was a "distraction" but feels he did nothing wrong.

"Being one of the leaders on the team, I would never put my teammates in a position to go into competition without me," Humphrey said in a telephone interview. "The day I got out of jail I put it behind me as much as I could, but I still had to find a lawyer, set court dates and stuff like that, but I tried to make it as (little) a distraction as possible."

Humphrey felt ready to play even after missing two practices and last week's game against Grambling State, he said.

"When my card is pulled, I'll be ready," he said.

On Monday, Felton dismissed Humphrey's roommate, Mercer, saying he'd become a "disruption" to the team.

Mercer was not present when officers searched the dorm room, and no one ever was charged in connection with the found marijuana.

Two out-of-town visitors were barred from the UGA campus on suspicion of possessing marijuana, police said, and one of those visitors was arrested because he was wanted in Stone Mountain for failing to appear in court.